What happens when the perfect real estate deal is buried under a mountain of complications—deceased owners, scattered heirs, unpaid taxes, and messy title issues? Most investors run the other way. But for Max DeLong, founder of Heir Solutions and Delta Property Data, these “impossible” deals are just the beginning of a thriving business.
In a recent episode of the Raising Private Money Podcast with Jay Conner, Max shared secrets to finding, funding, and profiting from complicated inheritance properties that most others overlook. Here’s a deep dive into Max’s strategies and how you can use them to transform discarded opportunities into successful real estate ventures.
The Opportunity in Messy Deals
“Most real estate investors…walk away,” Jay Conner observed when introducing Max. Why? When a property’s owner is deceased, the heirs are missing, and the title is buried in liens and legal red tape, closing the deal seems impossible. Yet, as Max explained, these are exactly the properties he targets.
In one standout case, Max described a property in Springfield, Ohio, that sat untouched for years after two owners passed away, leaving three estranged sons as heirs—none of whom had paid taxes or made any steps to transfer the property. By buying out the sons’ interests (even arranging a payout to one fresh out of jail), Max’s team gained two-thirds ownership, then filed a quiet title suit to secure the last third. Nine months later, $17,200 invested turned into an $88,000 sale—a net worth that justified the hassle and delay.
Understanding the Quiet Title Process
Max’s go-to legal tool in these situations is a quiet title lawsuit—a court process that resolves disputes and allows new ownership to proceed. While specifics vary by state, in Ohio this means legally challenging another party’s claim to a property, and if that party doesn’t respond within a set period, the claim is usually extinguished. As Max cautioned, factoring in both legal costs and longer timelines is essential. For his team, only deals with potential net profits over $45,000 are worth pursuing, given the added complexity.
Raising Private Money When Banks Say No
Traditional lenders steer clear of properties with title issues, so creative funding is essential. Max explained how Private Money fills the gap, often secured through other owned properties when the problematic property can’t be used as collateral. Full transparency with private lenders is key: “We are always extremely transparent with our lenders. They know exactly what’s going on, and we are paying a little more in interest in those situations, as we should be,” said Max.
He encourages building relationships and a reputation for delivering, rather than “selling the deal” to lenders. Often, the trust developed through repeat success is what secures funding—even for the messiest investments.
The Data Edge: Delta Property Data
Perhaps Max’s greatest innovation is Delta Property Data—a platform that leverages data and automation to find deceased-owner properties and identify their heirs. Instead of piecing together public records manually, investors can get a constantly refreshed, prioritized pipeline of opportunities, complete with skip-traced contact info for the true next of kin.
This platform monitors over 50 county-specific metrics and uses state-by-state inheritance laws to correctly target the right heirs, slashing research time and avoiding wasteful marketing. As Max described, “Identifying these issues used to be 60% of our operation. These are now 0% of our operation. Our operation is geared on attacking the opportunities in front of us, not finding them.”
Creating a Competitive Advantage
Why focus on inheritance properties? Simple: less competition, more value. Max explained that rather than hunting for the most motivated sellers, he’s after the biggest problems he can solve more efficiently than anyone else. The result: opportunities with fewer bidders and higher margins.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode
- What are some of the biggest challenges when dealing with inherited properties that have complicated title issues, and how can investors turn these situations into profitable deals?
- Max DeLong describes a case where he acquired a property by purchasing fractional interests from heirs. What strategies did he use to track down and negotiate with multiple, difficult-to-locate heirs, and what risks were involved?
- How does filing a “quiet title” lawsuit work, and in what scenarios might it be necessary for real estate investors working with deceased-owner properties?
- Why do traditional lenders and hard money lenders typically avoid funding properties with significant title problems, and how does Private Money provide a solution in these cases?
- What are some of the creative ways Max DeLong and his team structure Private Money deals in situations where a lender cannot be put in first position lien on a troubled property?
- In the episode, Max emphasizes transparency with private lenders when dealing with complex deals. What information does he share with lenders to build trust, and how does his track record play a role?
- How have technology and data, particularly through Delta Property Data, changed the way investors identify and pursue deceased-owner properties compared to manual research methods?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of specializing in the niche of deceased-owner and title-issue properties versus competing for more traditional off-market deals?
- According to Max, how can automating the identification and tracking of these deals help real estate investors scale their businesses or reduce the time they spend on manual processes?
- For investors interested in curative title deals, what resources and support does Max provide, and how can someone learn more or get started with Delta Property Data?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- Chasing Heirs Across State Lines and Jail Cells
Max DeLong once tracked down the heirs of a deceased property owner, which included dealing with a brother just released from jail and another who had fled the state—and even used a private investigator to try to locate the last missing heir before ultimately securing full ownership through a quiet title lawsuit. - Turning Unwanted Messy Deals Into a Business
Instead of competing for standard real estate deals, Max DeLong built his business around properties other investors avoid—specifically those with complicated title issues, scattered heirs, and legal headaches. - Supercharged Heir-Hunting Tech
Max DeLong developed Delta Property Data, a platform that scans every parcel in a county, uses over 20,000 resources (from national death databases to local funeral homes), and applies each state’s intestate laws, all to identify deceased owners and the real next of kin—making what used to take hours (or days) of manual work scalable and efficient.
Timestamps:
00:00 Creative real estate investing strategies
06:22 Brother’s legal trouble and town feud
08:33 Calculating Deal Profits and Timelines
10:25 Understanding quiet title actions
14:19 Finding First Private Lenders
19:48 Explaining title issues to lenders
23:39 Developing a comprehensive property monitoring system
27:38 Solving real estate challenges
28:24 Identifying and prioritizing market issues
33:34 Encouragement to share the episode
35:22 Download free real estate guide
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